Showdown for top draft choice

Once among the best, the Dolphins and 49ers are fighting for respect.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Bill Walsh and Don Shula might want to avert their eyes from this one.
Twenty seasons after the San Francisco 49ers and the Miami Dolphins faced each other in two of their 10 combined trips to the Super Bowl, they've become the NFL's two most miserable franchises.
Both teams are 1-9 this season, with injury problems, infighting, allegedly incompetent management and insufficient talent to give much hope for the future.
But their meeting today is more than a one-game playoff for the first overall pick in next April's draft. It's a chance for one of the NFL's two remaining one-win teams to salvage a sliver of past pride, to find a starting point for an encouraging finish to a lost season.
To the loser goes the worst
And for the loser, it's absolute rock bottom for a franchise more accustomed to being on top.
"They probably feel like if they lose to us, that's the lowest point of their season, and we feel the same way," 49ers running back Kevan Barlow said. "So I guess it should be a good game."
When Walsh and Shula were in their coaching glory days on opposite coasts, the 49ers and the Dolphins were among the classiest, smartest organizations in sports.
Every fan knows their resumes: San Francisco won five Super Bowls, and Miami won two while producing the sport's last perfect team in 1972.
"You look at the two franchises, San Francisco and Miami, and the history they've had, and there are a lot of parallels," said Jim Bates, named the Dolphins' interim coach after Dave Wannstedt's resignation two weeks ago.
"[Both being] 1-9 is quite shocking. They have a lot of newness. Our newness is because of injuries. I'm sure they're frustrated, too."
Divergent paths
Though it's tough to get to the top of the NFL and even tougher to stay, there are plenty of routes to the bottom of the league. These once-proud clubs followed two dramatically different paths.
The 49ers' doom has been years in the making, but most fans believe San Francisco has been condemned since owner John York took over in 1999, gradually tightening the purse strings of a team that spent decades spending whatever necessary to field a winner.
Though they didn't tell the fans who spend thousands on tickets, the Niners essentially wrote off this season last summer, gutting the roster of an already mediocre team in a heavily criticized salary-cap purge.
The result has been predictable: With young starters at most positions, San Francisco has been hopelessly overmatched in nearly every game. The Niners' only victory was the result of a desperate comeback from a 16-point deficit in the final minutes for an overtime win over Arizona.
"This hurts bad," said tight end Eric Johnson, one of the 49ers' few bright spots. "It's something we've been dealing with all season. The critics are on us, and I don't blame them. Until we show something different, they have every right to say things."
Though the Dolphins have made their share of personnel misjudgments as well, their demise was much more unpredictable -- thanks to the unpredictable player who mostly caused it. After 15 straight winning seasons, Miami was expected to be a playoff contender -- until shortly before training camp, when running back Ricky Williams decided he didn't want to play any more.
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